Mark Feffer started as a videotape editor back when there was videotape to edit, then joined the news desk at Dow Jones News/Retrieval, the company's first online product. He produced The Wall Street Journal's first multimedia CD-ROMs and published his novel, "September," in 2006. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, their fierce terrier, and a schnauzer who wonders why she ever left California. He's a member of the Project Management Institute.

Painful. Sometimes that’s the only word that can describe what it’s like to be the sole engineer in a meeting full of product and marketing types. If you don’t think what happens to this guy can happen to you, you’re either kidding yourself or you’re very, very lucky. If you have been in this kind of sit down, well… We’re sorry.

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Actually, lines need not be straight nor all points coplanar. In practice, any drawn lines will not be a geometric idealization and thus have both breadth and finite length. Furthermore we should not assume Euclidean geometries only. Using line borders, shadow projections, or backgrounds we could find a way to introduce other colors and even a dimensional appearance. Balloons and kittens, however, are out.
In any case, the video does nicely illustrate the problems marketing has communicating with engineering (but they’ll claim it is the engineer that is being difficult).

Consider placing 4 Rays, all with corresponding beginning points, arranged perpendicularly to each neighboring ray. (These may be drawn with the red ink 🙂 Thus, we already have 4 of the perpendicular lines as required, in red.
Then another ray (drawn with the transparent ink) rising off of the drawing board. This gives us another 4 perpendicular lines. Making 8 perpendicular lines.
The engineer under-promised, this marketing expert over-delivered! (Now what would you pay?)
We could of course do another going through the board in the opposite direction, but that would put the project over-budget.

I am a Dis-Abled Veteran, have two Masters degrees in Engineering from the Naval Academy , and WAS a employee as GS engineer for a government agency. I was in meeting like this more than once. For my last meeting, I pitched my work on fielding a IT network to move systems data over the internet (yes – the internet) instead of storing data on hard-drives and then driving it to sites in a Ford pick-up truck as a means of distribution.

They burned me at the stake because I was able to design, field, and operate a system that worked for minimal cost – without the legacy program overhead that didn’t even work – again – it did not work. In short my crime was that I pointed out the ugly-redheaded stepchild in the room – something nobody has the courage to do these days.

This is all a product of being a Former-US Marine, Educated (I even read books without any pictures in them), and who grew-up believing that Integrity, Competence, and Work Ethic are the keys to success – for all of us. The letter of commendation I received from the Pentagon resulted in my position being “eliminated to save government funds” three weeks after I received my award for a “Job Well Done”…..

My parents did not raise me to wear a Brown Shirt, Black Belt, and Black Jack-Boots and agree with everything the bosses said because they were “Experts” or were the current holders of power and influence. Stupid is still stupid and lie is just that – a lie…… Just because they tell the lie louder and for a longer period of time does not make it the truth.

This video nailed what I have seen in the government ranks. I happens every day too. And it scares the hell out of me, because these kind of actions put peoples lives at stake. In particular, the military men and women on the front lines who depend on us doing the right thing at home for them at home.

By the Way – They still move data in pick-up trucks………… (rolling my eyes and shaking my head…..)

Tell yourself: There’s more than one business which is hungry for talents; believe it or not some people are out to get work done rather than protect their own incompetence.
Some.

Heck, you might take it to your Congressbot. S/he is at least as corrupt as your pointy-headed boss, but they love a good story which they can blame on the opposition, or something to take credit for. Also keep in mind that somewhere up the chain, someone has to either cover up the non-functioning legacy project, spin it desirable, or (heaven forbid!) make it work. That person needs you.

Final thought: 50% + 1 may be pointy-headed corruptards, that just means you are more valuable when the time comes to get something done. Charge $$ accordingly.

And this is the kind of bull that I put up with everyday. People get technical because they want to feel in charge over someone else’s field. They argue over words, definitions, when they are wrong to just make themselves feel smarter. This is a video about ego. Nuff said…..

The engineer is just as at-fault as the rest of the meeting attendees. He keeps trying to explain using the exact same words. If you don’t understand a concept with the words I use to describe it, then I need to use new words, not just keep repeating myself.

I’m working in Telecom business in Germany and what scares me is, that this happen in so many areas worldwide. It looks funny, but I think there is a busness case behind for loosing money and motivation based on such communications. My opinion is, marketing goals and realization with technical area seems to be setup as marketing first and technical part last (just do it).
This is wrong, you need to have a balance of pushing ideas and take care of what the technical area answers. The customer will notify it anyway, with bad impact to company brand.